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Monday, October 20, 2008

Respond to this Quotation

"Most great literature is so radical, it takes its knife so near the bone, that we sometimes don't want to deal with it. It is dangerous to stand in a classroom with literature in our hands." - Mary Rose o'Reilley

8 comments:

Anonymous
said...

“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” - c.s. lewis. literature can be dangerous in the classroom because it is thought provoking and inspiring you never know how it will affect one person's mind to the next . . .

I disagree with anonymous, I think of literature as I think of music; the function of both is to SHATTER the binds of reality, and release us from the bounds of conscious thought. Literature is not thought provoking because of its realities. Literature stimulates the mind because it IS thought.

You are wrong Dr. D! Literature IS thought provoking because of its realities. Example one we've all heard the doll house story where a patron in the audience went home and apologized to his wife - question why did he do that? hmmm maybe he saw realities of his own life with in the realities of the show. think about that for a minutes ...

You speak of literature and music as if it begins in some other dimension beyond reality, when in fact the realities and experiences we face daily in life are what construct the depths of our thoughts and emotions we find within these two arts. Without some reality to tie our creativity to, the connection between our audience and our art would be lost and we would settle for a piece of literature that is at best, second best.

I partly agree with both of you, yes we need some reality to tie our creativity to.

But where does creativity come from? Imagination, and what is imagination? Nothing more than creative thought. And if in turn we can say that you are correct in assuming our creativity is tied to our reality, then you can see that all three are connected in a never ending cycle.

Now anonymous, to answer your question; when that patron in the audience saw "A Doll House" he saw the creativity on stage, which in turn made him think, which also in turn shattered the false reality he had been living in. His mind then had to rebuild the cycle, Because once the cycle is broken it must be fixed, so by apologizing to his wife he was effectivly repairing his reality. This all happened because the literature made him think, the literature did not "add" to his reality it blew it wide open. Following me?

You seem to be talking in circles. You must think of this less as a never ending cycle and more as a line. first you take in some sort of prompt/knowledge, then you process it into an idea, then you display it in the form of creativity.

You say that "creativity is tied to our reality" when in actuality creativity begins in our reality. Creativity is a response to creation that we see all around us, and the nature that we find within us. Perhaps this becomes more of a world view issue that is much deeper than this mere discussion of creativity. Therefore I will explain the thought process to you stemming from my world view.

As humans we are created in the image of the ultimate Creator. This tie to the nature of the very Creator is were our creativity stems from. However because we are not infinite like the original creator, but rather finite beings, we operate in a realm where we have a beginning and an end. Therefore our creativity is confined to start and stop somewhere. This creative beginning comes from two things, the creation around us that we take in through our senses, and from our nature given by the Creator Himself.

Therefore, when you ask "where does creativity come from?" your answer of imagination will not suffice. You stop short of a full understanding because you fail to see beyond yourself.

I second Ryan's comments. creativity comes from creation(a.k.a. reality). While the "creative" aspects of the play influenced said patrons reactions by adding emphasis to certain parts of the play, behind every good quality play is its words and those words came from/were inspired by someone's(Ibsen's in this case) reality - a reality different from our current reality, none-the-less a reality. And that creativity could not have taken place without the guiding light of the playrights words. That is why Ibsen's plays were so provocative at the time. They pointed out the problems with societies reality at that time, just as today's modern plays/novels - written word do All of which come from some tiny seed of reality and inspire creativity.